Samuel Maruta, who possessed an unquenchable adventurous spirit despite his background in finance, found himself rejuvenating in Saigon with his family. There, he crossed path with Vincent Mourou, who had just left behind his flourishing advertising career in San Francisco for a soul-searching odyssey in Vietnam. Their serendipitous encounter ignited a desire to break away from the ordinary. A Google search for "cacao plantation" led them to a farm in Ba Ria Province, an addressless adventure that set the foundation for Marou. On the way back to Saigon, they made a vow to bring life to this chocolate-making journey. Marou Faiseurs de Chocolat now stands as one of the pioneering "bean-to-bar" enterprises in Asia and one of the few worldwide crafting chocolate at its source.